During this period of recuperation, furloughs were freely given. This privilege was sometimes abused, and some men without any ailment, except a desire to go home, managed to pass the surgeons and secure a furlough. The "furlough walk" and "furlough face" came to be recognized as evidence of homesickness, and was more or less joked about among the men as means of obtaining a furlough. Nearly all the men, however, who were sent home, needed a change, and were granted furloughs as a sanitary precaution.
Lexington had been the home of Henry Clay, and as a compliment to the city, the camp was named Camp Henry Clay, in honor of the Kentucky statesman. This name was subsequently changed, as the War Department had adopted the practice of naming the camps in honor of soldiers who had fallen in the Spanish War, to Camp J. M. Hamilton, in honor of an officer in the Ninth United States Infantry, who fell at Santiago.
The "P jacket" first appeared in the regiment at Camp Hamilton. Previous to its introduction, one unacquainted with military affairs, could not distinguish prisoners from other soldiers.
These jackets were a distinctive badge. They were a blue jumper with a large capital P painted in white upon the back, and a smaller letter P, and the prisoner's number painted upon the arm.
It was related that a party of young ladies visiting the camp, became very much interested in these uniforms; but not understanding the letter P, inquired its significance from one of the prisoners, and was smilingly told that it stood for "Perfect," and that the jacket was a badge of honor.
The condition of the regiment was a source of great solicitude to its friends at home, and many anxious inquiries were made as to its health and surroundings. On September 8th, Mayor Ramsdell of Lynn, visited the camp and remained a number of days. He was the first of several Northern people who visited the camp to inquire into and report upon the condition of the troops.
On September 8th, the camp was visited by a delegation from Massachusetts, headed by Colonel Benjamin S. Lovell of Weymouth, of the military committee of Governor Wolcott's council. This trip was the result of a story printed in a Cincinnati paper, to the effect that the Eighth was demoralized with typhoid fever.
Colonel Lovell and others, who were in attendance at the national encampment of the G. A. R., in the Ohio city, saw the report in the paper, and Colonel Lovell telegraphed for authority to proceed to Lexington and make an investigation, and permission was granted by Governor Wolcott.
A special car was chartered, and Colonel Lovell, Colonel William M. Olin, secretary of the commonwealth, a veteran of the Civil War, who camped at Lexington in those stirring days, Captain J. G. B. Adams, sergeant-at-arms of the Massachusetts legislature, himself a past commander-in-chief of the G. A. R., accompanied by Mrs. L. A. Turner, prominent in Women's Relief Corps circles, and other Massachusetts people, made the trip to Lexington.
The day was spent in looking over the regiment, and Colonel Lovell, Colonel Olin and Captain Adams, made a thorough inspection of the regiment and its conditions, in regard to food, sanitary arrangements, and especially in regard to sickness. Colonel Lovell made a report to the governor upon his return home, and the same is on file at the State House, although it could not be located at the time this chapter was written.